If you are around my age, you probably watched the 1950’s themed television show called Happy Days. The character Arthur Fonzerelli, known as Fonzie, or the Fonz, was the motorcycle riding king of high school cool.
So, what type of motorcycle did Fonzie ride? Well, like many motorcyclists, even though this was just a TV show, he didn’t have just one. Over the ten years of the show which ran from 1974 to 1984, Fonzie had a few different Harley-Davidsons
, a BSA, and a few different Triumphs. A Triumph is the motorcycle that mostly appeared in scenes with the Fonz, but the Triumph emblem on the fuel tank was usually missing.
If you like the style of those old Triumph motorcycles as I do, and as the Fonzie character did, we”re in luck because Triumph offers some retro styled motorcycles, referred to as their Modern Classics, that will allow you to re-live the 1960’s times of motorcycling. The Thruxton, the Scrambler and the Bonneville are back and built to a blend of modern technology and vintage style.
This formula seems to work well these as several motorcycle manufacturers are catching on to this market. Moto Guzzi has the retro-styled V7 Classic and the California Vintage (my personal ride). Ducati has the SportClassic 1000, and for something different, how about that very economical little retro bike Suzuki TU250X?
Don’t overlook the 500cc Royal Enfield Bullet Classic, which is really a great looking retro motorcycle. I checked out the 2009 Bullet Classic 500 (now fuel injected) at a local dealer. Not much on power, but is big on style and is sure to please. It would be a really fun bike to buzz around town on. If you added a Cozey sidecar to one of these, then you could have some real old-fashioned motorcycling fun!
